European filmmakers need to be savvy about new media, film festivals and diversified sales models in Japan, according to panelists at a UniJapan Entertainment Forum on European films in the Japanese market today at TIFFCOM.

Sixty-five countries, including first-time entrants Ethiopia and Greenland, have submitted films for consideration for the foreign language film Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced.

Amber Entertainment, the production company formed last year by a team of former New Line executives, is joining forces with Oceanview Publishing to develop features and other projects from Oceanview’s catalogue of around 40 mystery, suspense and thriller titles.

Funds launched by international film festivals are becoming an important financing tool for filmmakers in Asia, with many films at the on-going Pusan fest backed by funds such as Hubert Bals and the World Cinema Fund (WCF).

The Babelgum Animatron Animation Film Festival has named the winners of its cash prizes for animated shorts, worth a total of $17,000. The winners were announced at the Hamptons International Film Festival awards ceremony.

The Middle East may be rich in stories, but local films have struggled for profile overseas. Matt Ross looks at how ambitious funding initiatives are improving the situation for film-makers in the region

British stars Felicity Jones (The Tempest), Rupert Friend (The Young Victoria), Rhys Ifans and Bill Nighy have come on board for This Beautiful Fantastic, which BAFTA winner Joel Hopkins (Last Chance Harvey) will direct.

Start-up company China Lion Film Distribution has entered into an exclusive partnership with US exhibitor AMC Entertainment to release Chinese movies in the North American market, starting with Feng Xiaogang’s Aftershock.

The company’s first slate will include a film adaptation of Chinese bestseller Founder, a 3D animation and an adaptation of internet novel Marriage-Home; Xu Xiaoping to be chairman of the group, Donny Liang to serve as CEO.

Danis Tanovic’s Cirkus Columbia won best picture in the international competition of this year’s Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (Oct 9-14), while Seren Yuce’s Majority took best film in the national competition.

Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver are attached to star in Red Lights, a psychological thriller from director Rodrigo Cortes to which Parlay Films has acquired most international rights.Parlay, an affiliate of GK Films, has international rights excluding Spain and South Korea and will start selling the film at next month’s AFM. Parlay head Lisa Wilson will be an executive producer on the film.UTA’s Independent Film Group, which arranged financing and helped package, re

Lionsgate motion picture group president Joe Drake will be the keynote speaker at Film Independent’s sixth annual Filmmaker Forum, to be held October 29-31 at the Directors Guild of America headquarters in Los Angeles.

Exclusive Media Group and newly launched Cross Creek Pictures will finance and co-produce political drama The Ides Of March with George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smoke House Pictures and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions.

Film Independent has selected 33 filmmakers for its annual diversity mentorship program, Project:Involve. The program is dedicated to fostering the careers of filmmakers from communities traditionally under represented in the industry.

Another key executive has left the Sony fold to join Graham King’s expanding empire as it emerged today [29] that Adrian Alperovich has arrived at FilmDistrict as president of acquisitions and operations.

Guy Pigden, one-time employee of the UK’s Scala Productions, is one of four directors who will make the first ultra low-budget films under the New Zealand Film Commission’s (NZFC) “escalator” initiative.

Stars from most of the world’s major film industries including Willem Dafoe, Juliette Binoche, Aishwarya Rai, Tang Wei and Jang Dong-gun turned out for the 15th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), the last to be officially presided over by festival director Kim Dong-ho.

Inception Media Group (IMG) has acquired North American rights from MacGillivray Freeman Films Distribution Company to four large format films that it claims have been seen by more than 60million people in IMAX theatres worldwide.

Austerity measures may be kicking in around the world, but governments are keener than ever to use financial incentives to attract inward investment from international film productions. Geoffrey Macnab reports

The box office heroics of Inception (pictured) boosted Imax Corporation’s third quarter total revenues by 17% to $51.1m compared to $43.5m in the third quarter of 2009, company top brass announced today [28].

Indomina Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Australian teen thriller Wasted on the Young (pictured), which had its international premiere in the Discovery section of last month’s Toronto festival.

Director Nir Bergman’s Intimate Grammar was awarded the Tokyo sakura grand prix and $50,000 at the closing ceremony of the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), which wrapped up on Sunday (October 31).

GK Films says it is reapplying for a permit to shoot parts of Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut in Sarajevo after concerns about the film’s content reportedly caused the original permit to be revoked by Bosnian authorities.

Confirming its new proposal of a merger with MGM, Lionsgate has issued a statement saying the proposal represents “a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity to create a dynamic, forward-looking studio that unlocks tremendous potential value for Lionsgate’s shareholders and MGM’s various stakeholders.”

Lionsgate has reportedly made a new proposal to merge with MGM. And in a surprise twist, Carl Icahn, the activist investor involved in a long-running struggle with Lionsgate management, is backing the move.

MGM has unveiled details of the bankruptcy plan which, if approved, will leave the long-beleaguered studio mostly owned by its lenders and headed, as expected, by Spyglass Entertainment chiefs Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) senior vice-president of international T Paul Miller will oversee the company’s operating territories in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions as well as select emerging markets.

The 39th edition of Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinema (FNC), Canada’s oldest film festival, will launch the country’s first simultaneous VOD screenings as well as a co-production website for the industry.

Paranormal Activity 2 dominated the overseas arena as the opening wave of releases through Paramount / PPI produced $22.2m according to revised figures issued on Monday [25], knocking Universal’s Despicable Me off its perch. Universal chiefs won’t mind too much as they revealed the company’s combined overseas box office was poised to cross $1bn on October 24.

Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are to receive the Producers Guild of America’s 2011 Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television, to be presented at Producers Guild Awards ceremony on January 22 in Los Angeles.

Buzz-producing awards contender The Social Network has its first international opening this weekend, though it is not likely to be among the handful of US studio films dividing up most of the spoils at the international box office.

The Social Network gets its first real test at the international box office this weekend, opening in France, Spain and the UK. The expansion will see the Facebook drama tussling with Despicable Me, Eat Pray Love and Legendof the Guardians for international audiences.

BSkyB pioneered the lucrative UK pay-TV market for movies. But there are concerns about the power it wields when it comes to premium movie rights, and some critics argue the broadcaster should be doing more for UK production. Geoffrey Macnab reports

Universal/UPI’s Despicable Me saw off a concerted challenge from Sony’s Eat Pray Love to finish as the weekend’s top overseas performer on an estimated $25.7m. Meanwhile Fox International set a new company record as it crossed $2.5bn in combined ticket sales for the year-to-date.

A special Chinese delegation will explore opportunities with Hollywood professionals at a US-China Film Summit on November 2 in Los Angeles, one day before the AFM kicks off across town in Santa Monica.

Quebec took home the cash prizes at the 29th Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) as Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies won the Best Canadian Feature Film award and a $20,000 cash prize as the 16-day festival ended.

It was all change at the UK box office over the the Oct 08-10 weekend as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps entered in top spot, grossing $2.5m (£1.8m) from 444 screens and the week’s best screen average of $6,358 (£4,019).

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